Women Pickets at Owings Mine

Information Given Out that Big Owings Mine of the Consolidation Coal Company and the
Erie Mine of the Hutchinson Company are to Be Operated.

Three more of the largest mining operations in the county are to begin operation again shortly, it
was learned yesterday. These mines will operate on the non-union basis under an agreement
which has been signed by operators and employes that provides that a wage scale substantially
the same as the 1917 scale will be in effect.

The big Owings mine of the Consolidation Coal company near Shinnston, the Pinnickinnick
mine of the Consolidation just east of Clarksburg and the Erie mine of the Hutchinson Coal
company are the operations involved. The Consolidation and the Hutchinson are the largest
operating companies in the county.

Several days ago announcement was made of the reopening of the Columbia mine just east of
Clarksburg and at that time it was expected other operations would be again opened. Some of
these plants were closed down about the first of April and others a little later, due, it was said, to
the inability of the company which had been operating under the Baltimore agreement, to meet
that wage scale.

Special Agreement.

As in the case of the Columbia mine, the employes themselves at the Pinnickinnick and Owings
plants, it was said, initiated the move to get the mines operating. A number of these men entered
into a voluntary agreement independent of the United Mine Workers and made the reopening
possible.

Work on cleaning up the Pinnickinnick, Owings and Erie mines was in progress yesterday and it
was expected all would be ready to operate in a few days.

More than 700 men will be employed at the three latest mines to reopen, it was estimated.
Seventy-three men signed the petition asking that the Erie mine be reopened, it was stated. The
Pinnickinnick mine employes about 200 men when it is running on a normal basis and under
normal conditions 435 men are employed at Owings.

While the demand for coal largely will regulate the number of men employed at these plants,
officials of both the Consolidation and Hutchinson companies anticipate no trouble in securing
sufficient help. At the Columbia mine, which was opened a few days ago, the company already
has applications for work from many more than enough men to operate. After the opening of
these mines, it is expected the working forces gradually will be increased.